Dear friends,
On August 30, we will release BLOOM, our new album with the wonderful composer Michael Torke. Developing, rehearsing, and recording this exhilarating piece with Michael was an unforgettable experience, and we hope you’ll enjoy listening to it. It will be available wherever you like to listen – you can pre-save BLOOM here!
To give you a taste of BLOOM, we’re sharing our second single with you. This movement is called Stem 1 and we filmed it at the beautiful Caramoor Center for Music & the Arts. We were lucky to capture the waning hours of the day from Caramoor’s beautiful Italian Pavilion.
The “stem” movements within BLOOM occupy a lyrical and introspective space within the piece. These are the ballads of the album, featuring lush, extended jazz-like harmonies throughout. To hear the difference for yourself, you can take a listen to our first single, Bloom 2: morning.
After an eventful 2023-2024 season, we have a moment to catch our breath and reflect on the year we’ve had. This past season included 13 world premieres by:
- Doug Cuomo
- Joan Tower
- John Luther Adams
- Michael Torke
- Wenbin Lyu
- Iseul Kim
- Harold Meltzer
- Ellis Ludwig-Leone
- Vivian Fung
- Chris Cerrone
- Viet Cuong
- Amy Beth Kirsten
We brought performances to:
- Boston, MA
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Vail, CO
- Fishtail, MT
- Columbus, OH
- Houston, TX
- Miami, FL
- Des Moines, IA
- Saint Paul, MN
- Providence, RI
- Rockville, MD
- Kansas City, MO
- Philadelphia, PA
- Greenville, SC
- Albany, NY
- Portland, OR
We also had a blast sharing music in our home city, performing five concerts in NYC over the last season. These concerts introduced us to some new venues – The New School, Park Avenue Armory, 92nd Street Y, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. We also performed with our dear friends at Trinity Church.
Before signing off, we’d like to recognize and remember somebody very special to us. Last weekend, our dear friend and collaborator Harold Meltzer passed away. These are some of Ian’s memories of working with Harold:
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“We didn’t know Harold Meltzer for that long. A few years ago, he got in touch with a beautiful idea – to write a substantial piece for The Crossing and Sandbox Percussion. COVID derailed things, and his health derailed things, but this project was so important to him, and he stuck with it.
For the last year or so, I was in touch with Harold every few weeks or every month. He would tell me with joy about the few minutes of music he had just completed. He would also tell me about his composition plans – he had no shortage of projects, and had thrown himself fully into his work. It was inspiring to see.
This past March, the stars aligned. Harold persevered and finished You Are Who I Love, and we were able to present a world premiere. The performance was beautiful, but I will never forget the feeling in that room, as we all gave Harold his very well-deserved ovation. We are very, very fortunate that he wrote this piece, and that we all were able to share the experience with him.
I just spoke with Harold a few weeks ago, as we planned future performances, a recording, and the next piece. The whole Sandbox team is sending a lot of love to Harold’s family. He was a beautiful person and we miss him.”
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Please join us in remembering Harold by listening to some of his music.
Ian, Jonny, Terry, and Victor